Italy tops 9,000 coronavirus deaths after reporting 919 fatalities in one day

Italy’s death toll from the coronavirus surged to more than 9,000 Friday as the country reported another 919 fatalities in one day.

Italy’s Civil Protection Agency announced that the country’s death toll currently stands at 9,134 after the biggest single-day jump since the outbreak first hit Italy late last month.

Prior to Friday’s jump, the largest one-day toll occurred on Saturday, when 793 people were killed by the coronavirus.

The agency said 66,414 people are infected with the virus, while another 10,950 people have recovered. 

Italy’s northern region of Lombardy has been the epicenter of the country’s outbreak, reporting nearly 24,000 current positive cases alone. 

Rome has taken drastic measures to try to curb the spread of the highly infectious virus, including tapping its military to enforce a nationwide lockdown.

Italy has had 86,498 total people tested positive for COVID-19, included those who have healed, a figure that surpasses that of China, where the pandemic first began.

The U.S. has the largest number of total confirmed cases at more than 94,000.